Posted on

New Sketch of Gitmo Pterosaur

Patty Carson, as a child and with one or more other children, saw this flying creature about six years before Eskin Kuhn’s 1971 sighting, also at the Guantanamo Bay military installation. The following sketch may not be complete, for it is still undergoing revisions. In some doubt is the final color selection and the precise shape of the beak. I am very fortunate to have a connection that allows me the privilege of having access to the images.

Gitmo pterosaur of Cuba preliminary sketch 15

We are indeed fortunate that Patty Carson has both a good memory and a talent for sketching what she has seen, in this case surely the same species that Eskin Kuhn saw at that same military installation in Cuba. Jonathan Whitcomb has been interviewing Carson and has interviewed Kuhn.

Carson has been clear about both the absence of feathers and the presence of teeth. That eliminates, for practical purposes, any misidentification of any bird. This sketch, in the beak and the head crest, eliminates any misidentification of any bat, even if the huge size of the flying creature is not taken into account. That leaves, outside of a hoax or hoaxes, only one logical choice: a modern pterosaur.

Regarding the cryptozoologist Jonathan Whitcomb, I have already written about the hoax possibility. See below. I don’t know if anybody has disputed his 2004 expedition, insinuating that he never even traveled to Papua New Guinea. As I had written, that expedition surely took place, for reasons mentioned. If he had any inclination to perpetrate any hoax, surely he would not have taken so much trouble, and at such expense, to travel to Papua New Guinea. He would also not have returned with an admission that he never saw anything like a modern pterosaur. He made it clear that he did not even see the flying ropen light, although his interpreter saw it when Whitcomb was asleep. Surely he has not been perpetrating hoaxes.

Kongamato Pterosaur and Hoax Possibility

To find out if Whitcomb has been carrying out a hoax, we need to go back to when he first became involved. His 2004 expedition in Papua New Guinea . . . If he were carrying on a long hoax he would probably have invented a trip to Papua New Guinea as well. But Garth Guessman and David Woetzel had their expedition to the same island . . . and it was only a few weeks after Whitcomb’s . . . explorations there. The difficulty with proving Whitcomb has been carrying on a hoax, including a false expedition on Umboi Island, seems to be insurmountable when we consider that the other two Americans talked with natives who had remembered Whitcomb’s recent visit. In addition, Whitcomb videotaped many interviews on Umboi, with his own voice in the audio track of those videos.

image_pdfimage_print
Posted on

Accuracy in Writing About Sightings

I think it generally positive when writers take up the subject of modern pterosaurs. That said, some of the online writings I have noticed to be inaccurate, with those inaccuracies being multiplied through multiple quotations and quotations of quotations. I will quote but one here.

But before mentioning problems, I recommend the following:

Ropens

Duane Hodgkinson, now a flight instructor in Livingston, Montana, in 1944 was stationed near Finschhafen, in what was then called New Guinea. After he and his buddy walked into a clearing, they were amazed as a large creature flew up into the air.

Now to the problem of lack of accuracy:

The Ropen of New Guinea

Duane Hodgkinson was stationed northwest of Lae, near Finschaven, PNG as part of the Army cavalry in 1944. About noon one day in August he was walking down a trail through a clearing in the forest when he was startled by a crashing in the brush. As he watched a large bird-like creature ponderously rose from the ground, circled and flew away. Hodgkinson, a pilot, estimated the wing-span to be about 20 ft. He clearly recalls the dark-gray coloration, long serpentine neck, beak, and distinctive head crest.

On first glance, this appears to be a quotation from A Pictorial History of Sea Monsters, 1972, p. 42, by James B. Sweeney; I have not read that book. But a giant flying creature seems out of place in a book about sea monsters, so I suspect that only the end of Woetzel’s first paragraph comes from Sweeney’s book. I suspect that the many details about the 1944 Hodgkinson sighting come from a somewhat casual remembrance by Woetzel. I have not heard about any interview that Woetzel has ever done with Hodgkinson, so let us compare the above with what has been learned from Guessman-Whitcomb interviews with the World War II veteran:

  1. He was not walking down a trail through a clearing; he was standing with his army buddy on one side of a clearing.
  2. They heard a crashing in the brush, that is true, but they then saw a wild pig run through the clearing. After they saw the running pig, the flying creature then appeared to their view, probably startled out of sleep by the running pig.
  3. Hodgkinson did not say that he “watched a large bird-like creature.” At first, he saw something flapping its wings, so he assumed that it was a bird. Very soon, however, he saw that it was something else, not a bird.
  4. He said that the creature ran through the clearing, taking several steps before becoming airborne. He did not say “rose from the ground,” which may cause some readers to think that it flew away mostly vertically.
  5. What does it mean, “circled and flew away?” If I understand correctly, Hodgkinson told Whitcomb and Guessman that it flew out of view for a few seconds, then returned, meaning it changed its course by 180 degrees when it was out of Hodgkinson’s view. But that point is of little consequence.
  6. He did not say that he was a pilot in 1944. He has been a pilot and flight instructor for many years now, however.
  7. The wingspan Hodgkinson estimated to be similar to that of a Piper Tri-Pacer, which is just under 30 feet. This is considerably longer than “20 ft.”
  8. He did not say that he clearly remembers the color of the creature. It was dark but not black, is what he told Guessman.
  9. I don’t know of any interview in which Hodgkinson mentioned a “long serpentine neck.” Where does Woetzel get that description?

David Woetzel is to be commended for his courageous expeditions in Africa and in Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. His sighting report of his own encounter with the flying light on Umboi Island is of great importance, in my view. His description of that light, especially where it was going (towards Lake Pung) is noteworthy and valuable.

His talents, however may be more in exploring and promoting expeditions, more than in writing, at least in terms of accuracy in details for sightings other than his own. I believe the world is a better place because of Woetzel’s writings. That said, it will be even better when he uses more accuracy in the details about sightings by other eyewitnesses.

image_pdfimage_print
Posted on

Do Pterosaurs Eat Bats?

I don’t recall any eyewitness report of a clear case for a modern pterosaur grabbing a bat with its mouth in mid-flight. I do know of a large bat in Europe, a species that catches some birds in flight, at night. But a pterosaur catching a bat is still highly likely, based upon a number of indirect evidences.

Pterodactyl Eats Bats

What allows predator to catch prey? Whether with greater speed, or with greater team work, or with greater intelligence, predators must use an advantage. And whatever elevates the predator above the prey will also make it appear different, to some degree. Of course a careless glance may not reveal any difference between a shark and the fish it eats. Falcons and sparrows are small birds; ant lions and ants are small insects. I know some exceptions: a few strange mammals eat only ants, and a few large spiders eat small birds; nevertheless, many differences are subtle, allowing predators to run or swim or fly alongside prey. . . .

Pterosaurs sightings are often around where bats are seen at night. Eskin Kuhn has mentioned finding many bats in caves at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I know of a brother and sister who once watched a giant flying creature at night, flying back and forth where bats fly. Professor Peter Beach has seen a pterosaur-like flying creature in Washington state, where Knighthawk birds and bats fly. I know of a few cryptozoologists who have searched the sky at a secret location: a place where large pterosaur-like creatures are seen to fly at night, at the same place where much smaller bats, in much greater numbers, also fly.

A clue in this situation is this: Some daylight sightings of what seem to be modern pterosaurs have involved them catching smaller birds like sparrows and mud hens. This gives credibility to the conjecture that pterosaurs eat bats, at least in some areas.

Marfa Lights Analysis

Over a period of months, some of the nocturnal hunting excursions may be especially successful, even if the prey is a species of small animal like a bat, in particular the Big Brown Bat that is common in this part of Texas. This bat is “big” only when compared with other bats in this area of North America, for it is only about half a pound in weight. What can we predict after an especially successful hunt? The next night may see those predators hunting in the same area or a nearby area.

image_pdfimage_print